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YouTube Part 5: Search It

Last post, folks. It has been a good run. I mean that. The project closes with a look into YouTube searches. When you type band names into the search bar a bunch of “suggestions” appear. These suggestions are the most popular searches that relate to your title. I have noticed throughout the week while searching all these bands that I keep getting suggested something I do not want to search. With this we will be able to see the most popular searches for each band. They will likely be songs, but there may be other things people are searching for too. I am going to use a big group of bands this time, ten to be exact. They are Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, Two Door Cinema Club, Beach House, Of Monsters and Men, Grizzly Bear, Sea Wolf, The Shins, The xx, and Silversun Pickups.

All ten of these bands released albums in as recently as last year (2012), so they should all have a couple music videos for their singles, and maybe even some good live performances worth checking out. What I will do is name the bands individually, and list the top five searches below that. From there I will dissect what I am finding. I’m not exactly sure what this going to be, but that is okay. I am certain some trends will be discovered. Let’s get started.

Only one of the five songs is from their fourth and latest album. Two of the top three are from their debut album, “Oh, Inverted World” dating back to 2001. Apparently fans are going old school with their searches. Overall, this isn’t all that shocking. The Shins were more of a big deal between 2001 and 2006. I’m a little surprised not to see “Phantom Limb,” “Turn On Me,” “It’s Only Life,” or “Saint Simon” sneak in there. I had no idea Sleeping Lessons was top five material.

We actually have The xx’s second album (Coexist) come in fifth. It’s possible there is a video of their entire album streaming on YouTube. Otherwise, not surprisingly, three of the four songs are from their debut album, “xx.” Their music is harder to grasp as far as singles go. I didn’t realize “Angels” and “Heart Skipped A Beat” were big hits until I researched YouTube this week. I always assumed “Stars” and “Infinity” were more of a success.

I am not exactly sure what “Babel” is referring to. Is it the first track or the album itself? My gut tells me it refers to the Grammy-winning album title. The rest is pretty basic. Those are four of their bigger hits.

“You’re A Wolf” made Sea Wolf, so it should came as no surprise to find it at number one. Their debut album comes in fifth, but, again, it shares the title with the first song on the disc. “Middle Distance Runner” is more popular than I ever realized. I figured tracks like “In Nothin,” “Wicked Blood,” and “Black Dirt” would maybe find the list. We are starting to see a trend here. Older songs are being searched more often. People are obviously still getting used to the new material one would assume.

No “From Finner” or “Six Weeks” is surprising, but not much else can be said here. They only have one album so that limits the searches. With that being said, the case could be made that we should be seeing the term “live” or “My Head Is An Animal” being searched, but no.

Beach House:
1. Wishes
2. Bloom
3. Other People
4. Live
5. Zebra

Well look what we have here. Not only do we have their fourth album’s title come in second, but we have our first “live” search. Either people really don’t know song titles, which is possible, or folks just really like their live performances. Two of the top three are from their latest release, which was expected.

With the top two, and three of the five being from their debut album, “Tourist History,” it’s clear that people lean towards the older stuff. “Beacon,” their second album, did not get as much praise from critics or their fanbase. Personally, I prefer it over their earlier material. Just saying.

Pretty standard stuff here, except that we have our first “lyrics” search. I noticed it elsewhere too. Mumford & Sons had a similar search come in sixth. So close. I assumed “Dead Sea” and “Big Parade” would make the cut. Nope.

Last one. The top four are quite popular, so that’s not news. “Substitution” isn’t a song I would have guessed though. I expected “The Royal We,” “Future Foe Scenarios,” or “Mean Spirits.”

Well, there you have it. One interesting thing that didn’t make the list above was that0 Grizzly Bear’s third highest search was “attack.” Comical, but not exactly what I had in mind. Apparently people want to see people get mauled by bears.

Overall, we learned that, for the most part, people still tend to search older, well-known songs on YouTube. People tend to be nostalgic in nature. We saw some album searches, so there must be a few full albums available on YouTube. That isn’t all that rare. People also tend to search for live performances, but generally not over music videos. There were also a lot of “lyrics” searches sighted. Visitors likely want to “see” the words they are hearing. Interesting. Those videos are somewhat rare, and unreliable. They can tend to have the wrong lyrics. Lyric based sites do exist, people.